Too many new real estate agents confuse busyness with business. Coach Darryl Davis shares strategies to ensure you’re spending time on what’s important.
I have been training real estate professionals for over 40 years. If you asked me to list all the new agents I’ve ever coached and name the one mistake that sank their careers the most, I wouldn’t hesitate. It’s not about pricing. It’s not the lead generation tool you bought. It’s not a market.
It is as follows: New agents are busy building their business and are confused.
Picture a treadmill. Get on top, set your speed, and keep going until your shirt is wet and your legs are burning. You must have done your best. You’ll also be standing in the exact same spot you started.
For too many new real estate professionals, the first year looks like this. There’s a lot of movement, but no ground is covered.
Work that looks like work but is not work
This is how the traps spawn. Getting your license can be both exciting and a little scary. So do what feels productive. The result is an attractive shot. Let’s say you order business cards and then reorder because the first lot wasn’t suitable.
Build the perfect spreadsheet. Take another online class. Organize your contacts, post on social media, and tell yourself you’re building a business.
In your head, this story seems perfectly reasonable. First, you just need to put everything in the right place. Once my branding is established and my system is ready, I’ll start reaching out to people.
Every job is safe, so I can see the appeal. None of them can refuse you. Spreadsheets never say no. A professional photo will never tell you that you are already a real estate professional. But none of them generate a single dollar.
The only activity that will get a commission check in your account is talking to people about real estate, which is exactly the activity new agents avoid.
why is this the most expensive
The painful irony is that some of our industry’s most engaged, high-converting business already resides on your phone, and most new agents walk right past it. They pursue cold internet leads and strangers because strangers feel less risky than calling someone they know.
Telling your cousins, old roommates, or parents you met at school pick-up that you live in an estate feels like you’re bragging, or worse, begging.
Neither. According to the National Association of Realtors, 66 percent of recent sellers found an agent through a referral or used an agent they previously worked with, and 43 percent of buyers found an agent the same way. Your future customers come overwhelmingly from relationships, not from billboards or purchased leads.
You are not humble when you hide from people who already know you, like you, and trust you. You end up giving away your warmest business to a competitor who tries to answer the phone.
How to avoid the busyness trap
The fix isn’t complicated, but it does require you to be intentional about being uncomfortable. Let’s start here.
Define what actually counts as work
An income-generating activity is any conversation you have with a person who might buy or sell you or introduce you to someone who can buy or sell you. Find leads, follow up with them, set appointments, and fulfill appointments. That’s the whole list.
If a task doesn’t ultimately lead to a conversation, it’s support work, and support work belongs after the money-generating work is completed, not before.
Protect your exploration time like a surgeon protects an operating room
Block for contact during the first hour of the day and treat the block as untouchable. Surgeons don’t postpone surgery because they need a new magazine in the waiting room. Your conversation is manipulation. Everything else is magazines.
Tell the world you’re in business
Make a list of everyone who would be happy to take your call and let them know what you’re up to. You are not asking for a favor. you are offering it. This may sound simple:
Hello, Jen. I wanted you to be the first to know that I am currently helping people buy and sell their homes. I’m not calling for any other reason. If you or a loved one ever has questions about real estate, I want to be your go-to person. Can I trust you to think about me?
Build a database and feed it on a schedule
Keep their names organized somewhere and communicate with them on an ongoing basis rather than just once. One of the conversations is “Hello.” A dozen or so thoughtful touches a year become relationships, and those relationships turn into introductions.
Transactions that are cumbersome to service
If you think you’re bothering someone, you’ll avoid that person every time. If you believe that you are a reliable guide and can save them money, stress, and costly mistakes, you will be happy to help. Thought comes first, activity follows.
Daryl Davis, CSP, is a nationally recognized real estate speaker, bestselling author, and coach with over 40 years of experience in the industry. For more information, visit darrylspeaks.com.
